A North East MP has hit back at suggestions that the renewal of Trident will prevent future terrorist attacks - insisting you would have to be “insane” to “wipe out an entire city to kill a suicide bomber”.

MPs voted to renew the Trident nuclear weapons system earlier this month at a predicted cost of £31bn - with a further £10bn contingency fund also set aside - by 471 to 116.

However, Labour is split on Trident and more than half of the party’s parliamentary MPs backed the Government’s proposal for the renewal of the submarines for the continuous-at-sea deterrent.

Earlier this week, Newcastle Central’s Labour MP Chi Onwurah admitted she voted for the four new Successor submarines with a heavy heart, citing national and international political uncertainties as a major factor.

Most notably, Ms Onwurah explained that the threat of “terrorist massacres” led her to back the renewal of Trident in an open letter explaining her decision.

Ronnie Campbell

But Mr Campbell appears to have added further fuel to the bitter row over the nuclear deterrent which has emblazoned the Labour Party by releasing a letter of his own.

Stressing that his views on Trident did not make him “soft on defence”, citing the example of his son serving in the armed forces in the past, Mr Campbell claimed that Trident would be “useless” against the “real and present danger from terrorism”.

In his open letter, Mr Campbell said: “As Jeremy Corbyn has said many times, peace is not achieved by ‘planning for war’ and it is obscene to be spending an extra £31bn on Trident during ongoing austerity and cutbacks at home.

“And who or what would the missiles be aimed at? The supposed threat from the Soviet Union is long gone, and Trident is useless against the real and present danger from terrorism - unless you are insane enough to wipe out an entire city to kill a suicide bomber.

“The use of Trident nuclear weapons would bring about human devastation and suffering on an unimaginable scale.

“It will never be justifiable to unleash weapons of mass destruction on a civilian population.

“Nuclear weapons belong in the dustbin of history alongside the Cold War.”

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Mr Campbell also expressed his sympathy for “those in the arms and construction industries who could lose their jobs if Trident were to be scrapped”, but insisted investing £31bn in a system “no-one in their right minds would use is madness”.

Mr Corbyn, the Labour leader, gave his party a free vote on Trident - with 47 Labour MPs objecting to the Government’s motion earlier this month.

Labour’s National Policy Forum are expected to revisit the Party’s position on Trident ahead of September’s party conference - when a vote to overturn their support for nuclear weapons could be cast.

Read Ronnie Campbell MP’s letter in full below:

In the Commons Theresa May said without hesitation that she would be willing to press the nuclear button.

I could not say the same – although the chances of me occupying No 10 are small – which is one reason I voted against the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system.

That does not mean I’m soft on defence – I’m immensely proud of our conventional armed services which, for a time, included my own son.

But as Jeremy Corbyn has said many times, peace is not achieved by “planning for war” and it is obscene to be spending an extra £31bn on Trident during ongoing austerity and cutbacks at home.

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And who or what would the missiles be aimed at? The supposed threat from the Soviet Union is long gone, and Trident is useless against the real and present danger from terrorism - unless you are insane enough to wipe out an entire city to kill a suicide bomber.

The use of Trident nuclear weapons would bring about human devastation and suffering on an unimaginable scale.

It will never be justifiable to unleash weapons of mass destruction on a civilian population. Nuclear weapons belong in the dustbin of history alongside the Cold War.

I sympathise with those in the arms and construction industries who could lose their jobs if Trident were to be scrapped, but to devote so many billions of pounds to something which no-one in their right minds would use is madness.

Kate Hudson, general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), said she believed the five tests would inevitably lead to a decision to abandon the nuclear deterrent.

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She said: “If people look objectively at the situation that Britain is in, its requirements for defence, the economic resources that it has available, my view is that people would be inclined to think that it was not good value for money.” I agree with her.

Nevertheless, after more than five hours of discussion, parliament voted in favour of Trident renewal by a majority of 355 in a motion backed by almost the entire Conservative party and more than half of Labour MPs. I was one of 47 Labour MPs who voted with Jeremy.

He, of course, is a life-long unilateralist but he gave us MPs a free choice in Labour’s ongoing defence review.

Who could answer his key question: “What is the threat we are facing that one million people’s deaths would actually deter?” Possession of Trident did not stop Islamic State, Saddam Hussein’s atrocities, war crimes in the Balkans or genocide in Rwanda.

The UK should follow other countries such as South Africa, Libya, Ukraine, Argentina, Brazil and Kazakhstan, which have shown they are serious about disarmament by giving up their nuclear programmes.

Labour’s National Policy Forum is looking at policy on Trident prior to the party conference in September - at which party members could vote to overturn decades of support for nuclear weapons. I hope they do.